Noonletter, Nov. 2, 2018

A federal judge shot down a plea from the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas to force the opening of a second polling place in Dodge City.

There’s just too little time, the judge ruled, to open another location, print ballots, split up voters between the two locations, and tell those voters about that change without making things worse.

The case had become a symbol to Democrats across the country of what they see as Republican election officials suppressing voter turnout, particularly in Latino-heavy places such as Dodge City.

Dodge City had only had a single polling place since 1998. The issue drew attention this year when the balloting was moved to the outskirts of town, beyond the range of bus service.

Ford County officials argue the move was made because they’d anticipated — wrongly, as it turns out — that a construction project would overwhelm the old site.

The judge wrote that opening a new site so soon before Election Day would create chaos. The ACLU has said that it’ll pursue legal action to create more polling sites in Dodge City after this month’s election, but that it won’t appeal the judge’s denial of a temporary restraining order before Tuesday’s voting.

Guard down

Two correctional officers were hurt Friday responding to a fight between inmates at the El Dorado Correctional Facility. A prison spokesman told the Associated Press that the two guards were treated at the prison and that their injuries were not life-threatening.

The prison has been the site of ongoing problems, including some small riots and difficulty hiring enough correctional officers.

Fox & Friendly

Kris Kobach continued his cable news campaigning on Thursday. This time he went on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show to complain that he’d unfairly been labeled racist when he showed up on CNN the night before.

Tucker agreed.

Farming the government (as Bob Dole once said)

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said farm bailout payments — triggered by a trade war triggered by Trump administration tariffs triggered by complaints about Chinese trade tactics — will come before mid-December.

Perdue spoke at Kansas State University on Thursday and then told Madeline Fox and other reporters the bailout will probably not continue into 2019.

“The goal never was to try to make people whole,” the farm boss said. “People aren’t gonna feel whole any time you have a disruption in your marketing plan.”

More bad TV

Scott Canon is digital editor of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. You can reach him on Twitter @ScottCanon.

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